Student Exchange to University of Bamberg, Germany
As an International student at Ming Chuan University who is studying Journalism and Mass Communication, gaining more experiences and exploring around the world, both are on my wish list to broaden my horizons. I feel very lucky because Ming Chuan University has provided a student exchange program to many countries this semester and without hesitation I joined this program to fulfill my goal in education. I chose one of European country for this program and as a Journalism student, I am a big fan of a country that has a rich history and culture. Choosing Germany as the country for student exchange was my very first choice as Germany is well known for its good education in my home country. In addition to what has been said regarding education, I chose Germany and exactly in Bamberg City (southern part of Germany), also for its strategic location for traveling to all neighbors cities and countries. I’ve never regretted choosing Bamberg, the city was small yet you can find lots of historical architecture and it was exactly what I expected to make the decision to study in Germany.
The first step before going to Germany of course is the toughest one. Preparing and printing all those papers and documents from home and host university, sending documents here and there was the busiest time during the pre-exchange program. And moving on to applying for a German visa, it was the longest time-consuming ever! We need to book the appointment in advance, the sooner the better! (P.S.: if you have an Indonesian passport please apply for the German visa in Taiwan, do not ever considering to apply a student visa in Indonesia, it is very risky and there is a high chance of getting rejected). Before applying for the Germany visa, please take note that there are a few important things we need to prepare; the Letter Of Acceptance (LOA), the Blocked Account with the amount that has been set by the Germany government, and lastly, the Health Insurance (me and my exchange partner are using the Private Health Insurance since the price is cheaper than the Public one; we use Care Concept).
All the hard work and waiting was paid off until I got my visa and set my schedule to leave Taiwan and come to Germany. Once I arrived in Bamberg, culture shock was not a big deal for me, but certainly, there are a few habits that I need to adapt here, mostly in university life. Sunday is not Germany’s day; The way Germans leveled the first floor as 0 and the second floor as 1st; Short break time during class, they don’t have a 10-minute break each hour, but they do have a short break though, just not in a specific time like Taiwan did, the professor will decide about when and how long will it takes; in order to show appreciation to the professor, after the class finished we usually knock the table or after students finished do their presentation. Those are new for me and things that I notice at the beginning of staying in Germany.
As it mentioned earlier about Germany’s location, it is surrounded by many European countries, hence, for students who are also interested in traveling, Germany is the best country to choose for the exchange program. You are able to expand not only for your education level but also the experiences traveling to many other neighboring countries which is the best part of being an exchange student in Europe. Based on my experience, I went to Austria, Czech Republic, Belgium, and the Netherlands since the land is still connected with Germany, so we can just go visit those countries by bus, regional or long distances train, even though it will take you almost a day by taking bus or train, but the experience is really worth it. You can enjoy the breathtaking scenery that Europe has during your trip.
Besides that, Germany has so many beautiful cities that you can go travel to. If you are lucky enough, you can get a very cheap price for an annual transport program, and if the universities that you choose collaborate with it, they might give you a more affordable monthly price, this program just started in 2023 and it’s called as Deutschland Ticket.
Speaking of transportation, here in Germany, mostly in bigger cities, they have trams, buses, S Bahn, and U Bahn (underground trains). So if you choose to study in a bigger city, you can explore and do your daily activities conveniently in Germany! However, unfortunately, the city that I chose, Bamberg, we only have buses here, still, it is a small city, you will be able to explore the beauty of Bamberg city by bus. In my case, I frequently just admire every single corner of Bamberg by walking.
Although Bamberg is a small city in Bayern, locals who live there are really nice, based on my experience, mostly they are willing to help you. Additionally, it will be great if you learn some German basic words or even sentences! They will be more appreciate you with that. Living in Bamberg, I met a lot of locals that are willing to help with English, especially for the young generation, however, some of them are not. In case you choose a bigger city, if you ask English questions, also will definitely get the answer in English. Unfortunately, not in Bamberg though!
I went to the Universität of Bamberg and thankfully I met a lot of new friends who also came from different countries and joined the exchange program. Since I came to Germany in the winter semester, me and my friends celebrated Halloween, Christmas, and New Year party together. Things that we frequently do are cook foods from our country then we share and eat our “international food” together and make our exchange program fun memories together by playing some games or maybe just having some chit chat. With them, I feel less lonely for being apart by time and location from my MCU friends and my parents.
I realize that European University offers very diverse and interesting classes and some classes are not available in our home university so we couldn’t transfer the credit to our home university, but some of the classes are worth to take, just for ourselves, not the credit. Some classes at my university are quite active, and most students participated during the class, certainly, it is very different from the Asian teaching style. For example, in one of my classes, we always have case studies in every meeting and do it with group discussion for 15 minutes then we must present our discussion result in front of the class, which is rare in Asia.
To sum it up everything, joining this exchange program that Ming Chuan offered was the best decision I’ve ever made. Overall I have a blast experience with it, all thanks to Ming Chuan for letting me and other exchange students for taking this opportunity to expand our knowledge about our field and the world.